Oakland Rollerland 5411 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA. This is 1946 aeriel photograph of the old rink. It is likely the 2nd building from top of the photo. Not the light colored roof. Its darker. You can see Gable roof. Hard to see but it is. Source: USGS.
Oakland Rollerland 5411 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA. An illustration perhaps done by the artist of the newspaper or by the staff of the architecture firm that designed this beautiful Art Deco building, another rarity in beauty of design of its time. Source: Oakland Tribune 27 June 1930. Page 21.
Oakland Rollerland 5411 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA. Full page article and advertisement from the rink and other ads from companies who were hired to construct materials for the building. For example, Ray Building built the building as Rex Floor Company did the Maple wood flooring. Source: Oakland Tribune 27 February 1930, page 21 (newspaper misprint as 211). Digitally remastered by Dead-Rinks. Cleaned up entire page. Left much original as possible.
Oakland Rollerland 5411 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA. Monochromic advertisement in black background, common of its era focusing on Art Deco graphic art. 1939. Source: Wiki.
Oakland Rollerland 5411 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA. Boy Scouts can skate. Mentioned another rink nearby which was under the same ownership/management. Source: Oakland Tribune 17 September 1930, page 26 (newspaper misprint as 211). Digitally remastered by Dead-Rinks. Cleaned up
Oakland Rollerland 5411 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA. Boy Scouts can skate. New partnership formed. in August 1949. Source: Billboard 27 August 1949, page 79.
Oakland Rollerland 5411 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA. Awesome sticker. Source: Wiki.
Oakland Rollerland 5411 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA.
Oakland Rollerland was a very interesting 20th Century roller rink on 5411 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, California. It began on 28 February 1930.
This rink just missed the Valentine's Day skating by 2 weeks that year but they had over 30 years worth of Valentine's Day skates for couples.
The construction of this rink made to be one of the largest breaking Idora Park Rink in California. The building was 30,000 Square Feet with 18,000 Square Feet Maple roller rink floor. It is pretty large. The top aerial view photograph is hard to judge its size as I tell you that. It was constructed by W.E. Lyon's business partner, Henry Christiensen and the W.E. Lyon Co. purchased both the former Rollerland and the Foremost Dairies buildings and tore it down already. I never heard of the same company that built a building gets to tear it down.
It opened on Friday, 28 February 1930, with special guest, a known actress named Caryl Lincoln who said she wished to meet every single skater at the rink. Sounds like she was really people friendly and fan friendly person. (Not every actor is like that. I know so because I do perform too. I am on IMDb).
First operator was by George L. Small with his wife operating the soda fountain, and their 3 daughters acted as cashier, checkroom girl, and as an instructor. Admission was 35 US Cents at the time of opening. I do not know what the rental was but likely it was 35 Cents also. Many rinks at the time had cost of rental the same as the admission. So, that was 70 cents. Expensive compared to food you would get at a nice drive-restaurant in California such as Tiny Naylor's, Roberts, Norm, and McDowells (Yes, before McDonalds came along and they were actually the first using the "Mc". That is another story another time and another website.
When they first opened, the crowd was really good and crowded at the rink but because of the Great Depression, the number shrink as the decade went by. However, by 1932, the number grew back to pre-Depression level.
In 1932 the same owner, George Small and his family opened another rink called Junior Rollerland.
Later, a new operator owned and ran the rink in late 1930s was Bert Griffin. He must have taken over by 1939 until 1948.
Then from 1948 to 1967, Rollerland was co-owned and managed by Frank Kastner (Casner?) whose father in law was the original operator, George Small.
The final owner in 1967 who bought the rink from Frank Kastner/Casner, it was Albert Bendits who bought the rink. That man, Albert Bendits was part of Foremost Dairies which is a next door neighbor to the rink and bought it in 1966 which made the rink close in 1967 for good. But in 1971, W. E. Lyons Company purchased the former rink building and the next door building (the Foremost Dairies building) and had plans to tore them down to built a 200 unit apartments complex. That would be quite unusual story I have heard. I am sure many places the same company would built and later on, buy and tear it down and rebuilt into something else.
There was also a Junior Rollerland at 111 Grand near Webster. a sister rink. This one was has no other information. Just that it is presently about a 15 story tower with 4 story parking garage.
During the 1937 Easter weekend, John Peters and his future wife Viola Houser met at Rollerland.
It was a beautiful building and rink that many went for years but by 1972, it went out of business, sold, and demolished to make room for an apartment building. This history is similar to the Valle Vista Rink in Hayward, California but there is no apartments there. Just cross the street. And another rink really did demolish and is building new apartment ON the property and that was the original Aloha Palace/Golden Skate Roller Palace/San Jose Skate rink. And of course Skateland in Greater Los Angeles area has turned into Alex Trebek Center, a homeless shelter.
They demolished the rink to make room for the Keller Plaza Apartments across the street from Golden Gate Baptist Church.
It seem to be trendy in California for former rinks to turn into housing. Yes, California needs housing badly but that is not the issue. Another issue another day, another website.
There is, an old brick building still standing today next door and that has quite similar architecture feature but it is a 2 story Red Brick building that has more windows than Rollerland had but the Art Deco theme is still there. It is north of the former rink. Check it out on Google Map and you will see. Google Map does not know where to pin the 5411 location. you will need to check 5427 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA.
The Junior Rollerland was right down the road. Appeared a couple of miles down which was not too far from the original Rollerland.
One thing to note, the final article on memories gave a lot of mistakes regarding the dates of opening and other things. It did say it opened in February 1929 but the 1930 article in Oakland Tribune article stated the date on the Grand Opening, NOT 1929 as Frank Canser said. That was over 40 years after the rink opened and was written in 1972. That article is a full page and unable to fit in here so read here and zoom in: Oakland Tribune 12 February 1972 (Same month anniversary of opening. That would have been 42 years old rink).
In 1963, Rollerland ceased to be an "R" Rink which was identified by RSROA as a rink with competition. Rinks without the "R" has no competitions. The article in 1972 said for that year, 17 rinks with the designation "R" were in Bay area at the time! Wow, many rinks! I will need your help on counting them all!
The Interior.
It had non-painted Maple floor, Fan layout. The entire building floor was 30,000 Square Feet, a rather pretty large for a rink of its time.
The Exterior.
It had that very much of a basic Art Deco look and likely had Gable roof. It was a Free-Span Steel Trusses Block - Walled Storefront - like Building. It was a large building with 30,000 Square Feet.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 18,000 SF. Floor: Maple Floor Layout: Fan.
Building Size: 30,000 SF Built/Renovations: N/A. Demolished: 2nd week of February 1972.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- Friday, 28 February 1930 to 1967.
Reason for Closure: Up for sale and sold to a contractor who wanted to built 200 unit apartment complex.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Oakland Tribune - 27 June 1930. Page 21 - Big article on the rink and many advertisements to congratulate the rink for its opening.
Oakland Tribune - Sunday, 17 September 1930, page 26 - Mentioned Skateland but also Junior Skateland at another location. Boy Scouts meet at the rinks.
Oakland Tribune - Monday, 23 Aug 1954, Page 33 - long article!
Oakland Tribune - Saturday, 12 Feb 1972, Page 19 - Memories of Skateland as they closed and demolished.
Note, close up of this article, please click this: Oakland Tribune.
Billboard - 27 August 1949, page 79.
Date of issue: 07 October 2021. Update: 01 December 2021.
For office use only: 7.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.
This rink just missed the Valentine's Day skating by 2 weeks that year but they had over 30 years worth of Valentine's Day skates for couples.
The construction of this rink made to be one of the largest breaking Idora Park Rink in California. The building was 30,000 Square Feet with 18,000 Square Feet Maple roller rink floor. It is pretty large. The top aerial view photograph is hard to judge its size as I tell you that. It was constructed by W.E. Lyon's business partner, Henry Christiensen and the W.E. Lyon Co. purchased both the former Rollerland and the Foremost Dairies buildings and tore it down already. I never heard of the same company that built a building gets to tear it down.
It opened on Friday, 28 February 1930, with special guest, a known actress named Caryl Lincoln who said she wished to meet every single skater at the rink. Sounds like she was really people friendly and fan friendly person. (Not every actor is like that. I know so because I do perform too. I am on IMDb).
First operator was by George L. Small with his wife operating the soda fountain, and their 3 daughters acted as cashier, checkroom girl, and as an instructor. Admission was 35 US Cents at the time of opening. I do not know what the rental was but likely it was 35 Cents also. Many rinks at the time had cost of rental the same as the admission. So, that was 70 cents. Expensive compared to food you would get at a nice drive-restaurant in California such as Tiny Naylor's, Roberts, Norm, and McDowells (Yes, before McDonalds came along and they were actually the first using the "Mc". That is another story another time and another website.
When they first opened, the crowd was really good and crowded at the rink but because of the Great Depression, the number shrink as the decade went by. However, by 1932, the number grew back to pre-Depression level.
In 1932 the same owner, George Small and his family opened another rink called Junior Rollerland.
Later, a new operator owned and ran the rink in late 1930s was Bert Griffin. He must have taken over by 1939 until 1948.
Then from 1948 to 1967, Rollerland was co-owned and managed by Frank Kastner (Casner?) whose father in law was the original operator, George Small.
The final owner in 1967 who bought the rink from Frank Kastner/Casner, it was Albert Bendits who bought the rink. That man, Albert Bendits was part of Foremost Dairies which is a next door neighbor to the rink and bought it in 1966 which made the rink close in 1967 for good. But in 1971, W. E. Lyons Company purchased the former rink building and the next door building (the Foremost Dairies building) and had plans to tore them down to built a 200 unit apartments complex. That would be quite unusual story I have heard. I am sure many places the same company would built and later on, buy and tear it down and rebuilt into something else.
There was also a Junior Rollerland at 111 Grand near Webster. a sister rink. This one was has no other information. Just that it is presently about a 15 story tower with 4 story parking garage.
During the 1937 Easter weekend, John Peters and his future wife Viola Houser met at Rollerland.
It was a beautiful building and rink that many went for years but by 1972, it went out of business, sold, and demolished to make room for an apartment building. This history is similar to the Valle Vista Rink in Hayward, California but there is no apartments there. Just cross the street. And another rink really did demolish and is building new apartment ON the property and that was the original Aloha Palace/Golden Skate Roller Palace/San Jose Skate rink. And of course Skateland in Greater Los Angeles area has turned into Alex Trebek Center, a homeless shelter.
They demolished the rink to make room for the Keller Plaza Apartments across the street from Golden Gate Baptist Church.
It seem to be trendy in California for former rinks to turn into housing. Yes, California needs housing badly but that is not the issue. Another issue another day, another website.
There is, an old brick building still standing today next door and that has quite similar architecture feature but it is a 2 story Red Brick building that has more windows than Rollerland had but the Art Deco theme is still there. It is north of the former rink. Check it out on Google Map and you will see. Google Map does not know where to pin the 5411 location. you will need to check 5427 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA.
The Junior Rollerland was right down the road. Appeared a couple of miles down which was not too far from the original Rollerland.
One thing to note, the final article on memories gave a lot of mistakes regarding the dates of opening and other things. It did say it opened in February 1929 but the 1930 article in Oakland Tribune article stated the date on the Grand Opening, NOT 1929 as Frank Canser said. That was over 40 years after the rink opened and was written in 1972. That article is a full page and unable to fit in here so read here and zoom in: Oakland Tribune 12 February 1972 (Same month anniversary of opening. That would have been 42 years old rink).
In 1963, Rollerland ceased to be an "R" Rink which was identified by RSROA as a rink with competition. Rinks without the "R" has no competitions. The article in 1972 said for that year, 17 rinks with the designation "R" were in Bay area at the time! Wow, many rinks! I will need your help on counting them all!
The Interior.
It had non-painted Maple floor, Fan layout. The entire building floor was 30,000 Square Feet, a rather pretty large for a rink of its time.
The Exterior.
It had that very much of a basic Art Deco look and likely had Gable roof. It was a Free-Span Steel Trusses Block - Walled Storefront - like Building. It was a large building with 30,000 Square Feet.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 18,000 SF. Floor: Maple Floor Layout: Fan.
Building Size: 30,000 SF Built/Renovations: N/A. Demolished: 2nd week of February 1972.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- Friday, 28 February 1930 to 1967.
Reason for Closure: Up for sale and sold to a contractor who wanted to built 200 unit apartment complex.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Oakland Tribune - 27 June 1930. Page 21 - Big article on the rink and many advertisements to congratulate the rink for its opening.
Oakland Tribune - Sunday, 17 September 1930, page 26 - Mentioned Skateland but also Junior Skateland at another location. Boy Scouts meet at the rinks.
Oakland Tribune - Monday, 23 Aug 1954, Page 33 - long article!
Oakland Tribune - Saturday, 12 Feb 1972, Page 19 - Memories of Skateland as they closed and demolished.
Note, close up of this article, please click this: Oakland Tribune.
Billboard - 27 August 1949, page 79.
Date of issue: 07 October 2021. Update: 01 December 2021.
For office use only: 7.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.